London DCF questions

[dzatlien 1]

Hello, I'm new to this site and it's very helpful.

I am a US citizen, living in the UK for 5 years, who has just married my italian fiancee. She has been living with me for 10 months though her residence could still be argued that it's in Italy.

We got married on April 26 and filed our I-130 on the same day. I have a few questions:

1) We recieved notice on May 2 that it has been received. I believe this is different from the Notice of Action, right? That will be considered my NOA1 date, right? Or should I consider that May 2. When do i start calling about my case number?

2) I'm being offered a job transfer back to the US but it's not official yet (it's taken much longer than i had thought). How can I prove intent to move back? I believe if i can start the process then I can have my employer write a letter stating that i'm moving back to the US. But if that hasn't happened by the time i have to file the I-864, what other steps should I take? I don't have a US bank account but I use my parents mailing address and I have credit card statements that go there, as well as a Michigan drivers license and voters registration.

3) Since we filed through the UK consulate I believe we'll have to keep a flat here, meaning we'll have to pay for two flats for a good half year. If I move to the states before this is approved (which is very likely) will my Italian wife be able to travel to see me. She does some work with the US and Canada and would need to travel there for work in any event.

4) We talked to a visa lawyer and they charged 3000 pounds plus fees (plus vat) and that seemed crazy extensive. Anyone else using a lawyer just to double check that you're doing everything correctly?

Thank you - any advice would be really helpful!

Daniel&Cristina

[lost_at_sea 995]

Hey,

Our timelines will be very similar Our petition was delivered to them on May 8th, and we're just waiting for something paper to get our NOA1 date, too. We got married last Friday and filed everything on the following Tuesday. Yay!

1.

You should get a letter from them saying they received your case, and the date they state on that will be your NOA1. I assume you got an email from them perhaps? Need to nag my husband to check whether he got an email - but I assume the letter, when it eventually arrives, will be dated the same as the email, but I don't know for sure.

2.

I think what you've got as evidence of intent to move back looks sufficient. If you don't have a job, however, you'll need to show you have enough savings to meet the ability to sponsor. If you don't, you'll need to find someone to sponsor your wife with you. It's all down to money, in the end.

-- I'm sure someone else will chip in on 1 and 2 who have completed these parts already though.

3.

Yeah, she can still travel. She may wish to make sure she travels with evidence that she's not relocating to the USA ahead of receiving her visa (ties to her home country, job, rental agreement), but I expect if she's travelling on business she'll be able to show that's the case. It should be the same as any travel she was doing to the USA before, though.

4.

I dunno. We spoke to someone and did a consultation to see if our plan to do DCF seemed sensible and see what her estimations on timings were, and it did not cost that much (about a third of that, IIRC) in London. We didn't want them to do the filing for us (because it's not that hard) and they wouldn't take us as just a consultancy case, so I don't know how much it would have cost long run. Lawyers *are* expensive in return for what they're doing for you. Actually, the lawyer we just fired (see my profile for explanation on that) charged us about $1500 to complete our original I129f, if that helps (and we got our money back).

Edited May 11, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[dzatlien 1]

Thanks, unfortunately only I am on the lease so she'll only have her return airline ticket as proof she's coming back. We live in the UK but she owns a house in Italy. i wonder if we could use that - even though we're going through the US consulate in the UK rather than the one in Italy.

As for funds, between us we should have enough to cover but all of her money is in the UK and Italy. Will the the US recognize assets that aren't in the US?

[lost_at_sea 995]

Thanks, unfortunately only I am on the lease so she'll only have her return airline ticket as proof she's coming back. We live in the UK but she owns a house in Italy. i wonder if we could use that - even though we're going through the US consulate in the UK rather than the one in Italy.

As for funds, between us we should have enough to cover but all of her money is in the UK and Italy. Will the the US recognize assets that aren't in the US?

As I understand, non-US assets are fine but you have to be able to show they can be converted into assets in the US within a year. I'd google about a bit more for that, though - questions about assets/sponsorship are common on this forum.